We took a nature walk and looked at trees and leaves and the weather. Then we colored the sky (weather) on our paper and glued the leaves in line from the tree (1st, 2nd, 3rd and last) - ask the children to tell you which one is first from the tree, etc. to check for understanding. We also brushed glitter on the leaves. On another day we gathered rocks in paper sacks and they looked at them under a magnifying glass. They also counted out 6 rocks from their collection since we were learning the #6 then they painted their rocks 2 different colors to make an AB pattern. Here are a few pics below. Sylvia
Story Time Books: Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert-patterning, sorting, planting, bird feeders lessons The Leaves Are Falling One by One by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-counting lesson Autumn's First Leaf by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-jealousy/friendship lesson When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-farm animal vocabulary/ location words lesson The Biggest Leaf Pile by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-colors/ taking turns lesson We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-perfect for setting up you're own hunt I See a Leaf by Grace Maccarone (Scholastic Reader)-make a class fall tree Pooh's Leaf Pile by Isabel Gaines-leaf collages, leaf shape paintings (tape leaves onto a paper, paint the paper and leaf, remove the leaf), leaf rubbings (place the leaf under a paper, remove the paper from a crayon, roll the crayon over the paper)
Scientific Books: Fall Changes by Ellen B. Senisi People in Fall by Martha E.H. Rustard Autumn (Bridgestone Books) Autumn Leaves (Pebble Books) I Know It's Autumn by Eileen Spinelli From Acorn to Oak Tree by Jan Kottke (Welcome Books)
Poems/Lessons for Shared Reading: (I usually include drawings to aid in comprehension.) Falling Leaves
1 leaf, 2 leaves
3 leaves falling
4 leaves, 5 leaves
6 leaves falling
7 leaves, 8 leaves
9 leaves falling
10 leaves falling down!
Day 1: Focus on explicitly teaching that we read from left to right, top to bottom. Practice counting 10 leaves.
Day 2: Focus on number recognition. Randomly point to numbers. Ask students to name them.
Day 3: Focus on clapping syllables of words/#'s in the poem: leaf, falling, 1, 2, 7, down, etc.
Day 4: Focus on Ll name/sound. Have students locate it on poem. Bring out your Ll tub (or collect some Ll pictures/objects to review alliteration).
Day 5: Focus on rhyming. Come up with rhyming words for each number (or have picture cards ready to match with the number it rhymes with).
Fall ABC Poem by Sarah Rivera
(I just tweaked an existing ABC Poem.)
A B C D E F G
I see leaves falling from the tree!
H I J K L M N O P
I can count them: 1, 2, 3!
Q R S, T U V
The days are cool and windy!
W X Y and Z
Fall is here! Can't you see?
Day 1: Focus on explicitly teaching one-to-one correspondence when reading the letters. Reread only the letters while singing the ABC song.
Day 2: Focus on letter naming fluency. Randomly point to letters. Have students name them.
Day 3: Focus on rhyming. Come up with rhyming words for tree, fall, and cool.
Day 4: Focus on letter sounds. Using one letter row at a time, produce the sound for a letter. Have a student come find it. Continue only for about 5 minutes or until each child gets a turn.
Day 5: Prepare some lower case letters to hand to the students. Match them to the upper case ones on the poem.
I thought this would be a great lesson for night and day! Fun too! Kathy Crazy Pruyne
This is a good weather book, may be a little advanced for them but we can summarize for them and talk about the weather words. The link in blue is the Amazon link so you can look inside the book. My library had it so you can check with your library if you want this book.
After reading a book and talking about what we know about daytime, each child did a drawing of daytime. I am making a daytime book out of the drawings!
Then we did the same thing with nighttime. Now we have 2 new classroom books!
What resources has anyone found (books, web sites, etc.) that are good for this unit? Becky and Cheryl
Scholastic just sent this website with great resources/ideas:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=50&eml=TNL/e/20100806/PKK_NEW
We took a nature walk and looked at trees and leaves and the weather. Then we colored the sky (weather) on our paper and glued the leaves in line from the tree (1st, 2nd, 3rd and last) - ask the children to tell you which one is first from the tree, etc. to check for understanding. We also brushed glitter on the leaves. On another day we gathered rocks in paper sacks and they looked at them under a magnifying glass. They also counted out 6 rocks from their collection since we were learning the #6 then they painted their rocks 2 different colors to make an AB pattern. Here are a few pics below. Sylvia
Here is a good web site with links for weather: http://www.sharkeysclass.com/Science.html
PRE-K Science Center Ideas:
http://www.pre-kpages.com/science.html
http://prekinders.com/science-center/
Story Time Books:
Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert-patterning, sorting, planting, bird feeders lessons
The Leaves Are Falling One by One by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-counting lesson
Autumn's First Leaf by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-jealousy/friendship lesson
When the Leaf Blew In by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-farm animal vocabulary/ location words lesson
The Biggest Leaf Pile by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-colors/ taking turns lesson
We're Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger (Scholastic)-perfect for setting up you're own hunt
I See a Leaf by Grace Maccarone (Scholastic Reader)-make a class fall tree
Pooh's Leaf Pile by Isabel Gaines-leaf collages, leaf shape paintings (tape leaves onto a paper, paint the paper and leaf, remove the leaf), leaf rubbings (place the leaf under a paper, remove the paper from a crayon, roll the crayon over the paper)
Scientific Books:
Fall Changes by Ellen B. Senisi
People in Fall by Martha E.H. Rustard
Autumn (Bridgestone Books)
Autumn Leaves (Pebble Books)
I Know It's Autumn by Eileen Spinelli
From Acorn to Oak Tree by Jan Kottke (Welcome Books)
Poems/Lessons for Shared Reading:
(I usually include drawings to aid in comprehension.)
Falling Leaves
1 leaf, 2 leaves
3 leaves falling
4 leaves, 5 leaves
6 leaves falling
7 leaves, 8 leaves
9 leaves falling
10 leaves falling down!
Day 1: Focus on explicitly teaching that we read from left to right, top to bottom. Practice counting 10 leaves.
Day 2: Focus on number recognition. Randomly point to numbers. Ask students to name them.
Day 3: Focus on clapping syllables of words/#'s in the poem: leaf, falling, 1, 2, 7, down, etc.
Day 4: Focus on Ll name/sound. Have students locate it on poem. Bring out your Ll tub (or collect some Ll pictures/objects to review alliteration).
Day 5: Focus on rhyming. Come up with rhyming words for each number (or have picture cards ready to match with the number it rhymes with).
Fall ABC Poem by Sarah Rivera
(I just tweaked an existing ABC Poem.)
A B C D E F G
I see leaves falling from the tree!
H I J K L M N O P
I can count them: 1, 2, 3!
Q R S, T U V
The days are cool and windy!
W X Y and Z
Fall is here! Can't you see?
Day 1: Focus on explicitly teaching one-to-one correspondence when reading the letters. Reread only the letters while singing the ABC song.
Day 2: Focus on letter naming fluency. Randomly point to letters. Have students name them.
Day 3: Focus on rhyming. Come up with rhyming words for tree, fall, and cool.
Day 4: Focus on letter sounds. Using one letter row at a time, produce the sound for a letter. Have a student come find it. Continue only for about 5 minutes or until each child gets a turn.
Day 5: Prepare some lower case letters to hand to the students. Match them to the upper case ones on the poem.
I thought this would be a great lesson for night and day! Fun too! Kathy Crazy Pruyne
Weather Words - Book
Here are two more good books about daytime/nighttime. I got them from our library.
On Earth by G. Brian Karas
What Makes Day and Night by Dr. Franklyn M. Branley
Ideas for Night/Day
Another book idea: Dora Little StarMAKE BOOKS FOR BOTH DAY AND NIGHT!
After reading a book and talking about what we know about daytime, each child did a drawing of daytime. I am making a daytime book out of the drawings!Then we did the same thing with nighttime. Now we have 2 new classroom books!
Printable Essential Questions-
Planning in Action - Nov. 4th
Unit planning grid using the Essential Questions ~